Alex Turner: “Rock’n’roll will never die”.

Alex Turner made a defiant speech in support of rock'n'roll at last night's Brit Awards [February 19], where Arctic Monkeys becoming the first band to claim a Brits-double of British Group and British Album for a third time.

Collecting British Group, Alex Turner said: "There's that 15 quid we put on One Direction to win down the drain." He declined to make a list of thank-yous, saying: "They need to hear their names read out as much as you need to hear another list of names of people you don't know."

Alex Turner made a defiant speech in support of rock’n’roll at last night’s Brit Awards [February 19], where Arctic Monkeys becoming the first band to claim a Brits-double of British Group and British Album for a third time.

Collecting British Group, Alex Turner said: “There’s that 15 quid we put on One Direction to win down the drain.” He declined to make a list of thank-yous, saying: “They need to hear their names read out as much as you need to hear another list of names of people you don’t know.”

The band then collected the final prize of the evening for British Album from Emeli Sandé, becoming the first band to claim a Brits-double of British Group and British Album for a third time. Turner told the crowd: “That rock’n’roll, hey? That rock’n’roll just won’t go away. It might hibernate from time to time and sink back into the swamp… but it’s always waiting there just around the corner.” He then signed off by telling organisers to “invoice me for the microphone if you wanna” before dropping it on the floor.

Here’s the full transcript of Turner’s speech:

“Thank you. That rock’n’roll, eh? That rock’n’roll, it just won’t go away. It might hibernate from time to time and sink back into the swamp. I think the cyclical nature of the universe in which it exists demands it adheres to some of its rules. But it’s always waiting there, just around the corner, ready to make its way back through the sludge and smash through the glass ceiling, looking better than ever. Yeah, that rock’n’roll, it seems like it’s fading away sometimes, but it will never die. And there’s nothing you can do about it. Thank you very much for this. I do truly appreciate it. Don’t take that the wrong way and invoice me for the microphone if you need to.”

The Sheffield band had opened the show with a performance of “R U Mine?“, during which pyrotechnics spelled out AM, the name of their 2013 album.

Visit our dedicated features section, with plenty of our best long pieces archived there. You can find it here.

Uncut is now available as a digital edition! Download here on your iPad/iPhone and here on your Kindle Fire or Nook.